[Architecture and design of mental health institutions]

The physical environment of mental health institutions is regarded as a therapeutic agent within the treatment. There is only little scientific evidence on the consequences of architecture and design on psychiatric patients available.

A systematic review was conducted on studies from adult mental health institutions.

25 studies were included into the review. Pre-post-studies and control group conditions were predominant study designs. Randomized controlled trials were not available. Interventions reached from art installations up to entire ward renovations. Outcome indicators were rather heterogeneous, including psychopathology, behavioural observations and aggression incidents. Overwhelmingly, the studies revealed positive results of interventions into the physical environment.

We found positive outcomes independent from the intervention in detail. This result should be interpreted in the light of the generally low study quality and further methodological problems.